Coalition rallies against northern Nevada coal-fired power plant

[NVMojo]

RENO, Nev. (AP) - An alliance of 18 environmental and community groups began a campaign Wednesday to block the development of a large coal-fired power plant 110 miles north of Reno.

The Nevada Clean Energy Coalition also wrote Sempra Energy's chief executive officer, Stephen L. Baum, asking him to stop Sempra Generation from building the coal-fired plant and to consider investing in clean renewable energy resources instead.

Sempra's proposed 1,450 megawatt plant, which would be built north of the site of the annual Burning Man counterculture festival near Gerlach, would generate power for 1.5 million homes in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest. Sempra is based in San Diego.

"Abomination is the only word you can use for this," Jon Wellinghoff told a gathering at the county government complex.

Wellinghoff was Nevada's first consumer advocate and is Sen. Harry Reid's nominee to serve on the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He wrote the 2001 law that requires Nevada's utility companies to receive increasing amounts of their power from renewable sources like geothermal, wind and solar.

"This plant, using 75-year-old technology, would be of no beneficial use to Nevada, with all its power going to Southern California," Wellinghoff said.

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2005/apr/20/042010121.html